


A Warm Bed

by theredhood



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: All the batkids are mentioned!, Bruce cares, Gen, but Jason and Damian are super relevant to this story even though they don't show up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 09:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12454209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theredhood/pseuds/theredhood
Summary: After a rough night, Bruce reflects on his family while he pets his dog.





	A Warm Bed

It's late in the manor when Bruce finally comes home. Hes a little worse for wear but he tries to not let it show while he makes his way over to the batcomputer. The cave is empty besides Bruce, the bats, and Ace who's sitting below his feet, tail mindlessly wagging back and forth. Bruce takes off a gauntlet and reaches down to pet his dog. Ace was an older dog, much older than Titus and Krypto and whatever other dogs his family and friends have. Its really starting to show. The large black dog is losing fur, has gray hairs, and his eyesight is starting to go but he still always knows when Bruce needs him the most. 

After a few moments of just mellowing out with his first real pet, Bruce sighs and decides to get back to work. When he moves his hand Ace follows though and sits up, then rests his head on Bruce's thigh. Bruce shakes his head, smiles ever so slightly, and goes back to petting Ace. Using his free hand, Bruce tries to fill out the night's report as best as he can. As time passes, Ace falls asleep in that position and Bruce is struck by the thought that he wouldn't know what to do after Ace passes on. He thinks Damian would always be open to another dog but the idea of moving on from Ace hurts a little too much. He'd find another dog after a few years, yes, but he would never be able to replace Ace. 

Deciding that the stone floor is not good enough for one of the longest serving members of Batman Incorporated, Bruce picks up Ace and carries him up the stairs that lead into the manor, not wanting to watch the old boy limp up them. It's 4am and although Bruce knows almost nobody in the house is asleep, he still walks as quietly as he can. Ace wakes up again at some point and rests his head on Bruce's shoulder and licks right below his jaw. Ace stays like that until Bruce passes by the dog's bed and doesn't set him down. 

Ace makes a grumbling sound but Bruce ignores him until they come to a door. Opening it as best as he can without dropping Ace is easier said than done but Bruce manages to unlock his bedroom door and set Ace on his bed anyways. The dog looks concerned, Bruce hasn't let him sleep in the bed for years, but Ace is willing to take what he can get and curls up. 

Bruce strips out of the batsuit slowly and hangs it in the closet when he's done. His bones ache and he can feel the age settling within him too. Sliding into an old pair of pajama pants, Bruce sighs and rubs at his eyes. The sun is filtering in through the drapes as he makes his way to the bed and lays down next to Ace.  
Petting him behind his ears, Bruce thinks about his kids and where they are right now. 

Dick is in Bludhäven, most likely passed out on his couch in an attempt to get a few hours of sleep before he has to work at the BPD. Jason is... Bruce doesn't know where Jason is and the thought scares him but he knows his second eldest son is with Koriand'r and Roy and that soothes the worry. Bruce makes a mental note to check in with Jason at some point in the next few days a. 

He thinks of Barbara, too. Despite her being Jim's kid and not his own, Bruce will always count her as one of his daughters. He knows Barbara is locked up in the clocktower and he wants to make sure she gets enough sleep but the attempts would be fruitless. Barbara is stubborn just like him and he can accept he's evenly matched when it comes to stuff like this. 

His mind drifts to Stephanie, Cass, and Harper next. The girls share an apartment near Burnside and he knows they're safe together. The thought of his girls always being there for each other and having the others backs make him feel so much better. They're his kids and he will always worry but he trusts them enough to take care of themselves. 

Bruce, without a doubt, isn't worried about where Tim is. He knows the third Robin is at Titans tower because he just sent Bruce case files from the computer there while Bruce was writing his report. This doesn't stop Bruce from hoping that his son gets enough sleep, though. He hopes Kon or Cassie is at the tower, too. They're both very good at making sure Tim takes care of himself and Bruce is infinitely glad his son has such good friends. 

Duke and Damian are both sleeping in their bedrooms. Duke still has a relatively great sleep schedule somehow, so Bruce knows he's definitely asleep. Damian, though, is definitely not. 

Bruce can hear the soft violin music filtering from his youngest son's room. He didn't understand how Damian could stand to be up so late from such a young age but at some point it clicked. Damian was still a young boy; he was only 13 as of currently, and kids as young as him have nightmares. Dick had never had the nightmares. He had been an upbeat and happy kid because he knew if he let himself sulk he would never stop and somehow that made him impervious to bad dreams. 

Jason was the first of his kids to have the nightmares, and Jason had them bad. It was actually when talking with his second son that Bruce realized what was going on with Damian. Jason had been talking about how he was trying to quit smoking, which sparked the discussion of why he even started. He said it began when he was nine and had just begun living alone on the streets. Jason said he never liked smoking, not really, but as a kid he found comfort in them because it numbed the pain. The cigarettes were his way of dealing with the trauma and nightmares that came with watching his mother die and being forced to survive in Crime Alley when he was only barely four feet fall. 

"Something about the shakiness that came with those first few cigarettes made me feel like I could blame all my problems on a little nicotine," Jason had said. "When I came back, I made that same mistake again. I didn't need them after the Lazarus Pit but I needed the familiarity. I needed something to tie me down and keep me company." Bruce was constantly learning new things about Jason. Things he should have learned while the boy was still living under his roof but Bruce had been too wrapped up in Jason's flaws to think about why he had them and what he could do to soothe the ache his son had felt. He knew after that that Damian played violin so he didn't have to sleep, because sleeping meant dreaming of him dying, or of the League of Assassins, or just the general horrors that being Robin now came with. When Dick was still in the pixie boots, Bruce dealt with the average day criminals mostly and occasionally the outbursts from the rogues gallery that were more inconveniences than anything else. At some point, though, vigilante life became more threatening and deadly than anything else. There was no more easy nights and Damian was the first to truly have to suffer the consequences of that. So Bruce lets him stay up and play violin. 

Bruce was never good at being a dad, and he can to admit that. He doesn't know the right things to say or when to say them and no matter how hard he tries he just can't get it right. He wants to tell Damian it's okay, that even he gets nightmares and it's okay to have them but he shouldn't torture himself with staying up until he passes out. 

Sighing, Bruce thinks about Alfred who is most likely either reading or asleep. He thinks about how much Alfred has done for him and their family and is reminded with just how thankful he is for his butler. 

Bruce lays his head down next to Ace's and rubs the bridge of the dogs nose with his thumb, "I love you, too, boy," he mumbles, closing his eyes. Ace makes a grumbling noise back and thumps his tail against the bed a few times before curling back into himself to sleep. Bruce finally allows himself the luxury of going to bed once he knows his family is safe. Bruce sleeps soundly with his dog by his side until both Ace and Titus shake him awake at 11am wanting to go for a walk, a sleepy Damian rubbing his eyes in the doorway. For the first time in awhile, Bruce wakes up happy and smiling.


End file.
